


The Start Of Us

by emilyszuko



Category: Cloak & Dagger (TV 2018), Runaways (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-12
Updated: 2018-10-12
Packaged: 2019-07-30 00:59:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16275932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emilyszuko/pseuds/emilyszuko
Summary: Tandy Bowen just moved into a new city with her mom after years of silent torment under custody battles between her parents. With the promise of a fresh start, Tandy starts her new school with quiet optimism and hope.And then she meets Tyrone Johnson.





	The Start Of Us

**Author's Note:**

> look the most dominant part of being a fic writer is wanting content, not getting any, and then providing it yourself. this is legit a result of that.
> 
> so the runaways are included in this, but its an au, so u literally dont have to know a thing about them/the show. i just really wanted to include them bc i love them.
> 
> there are going to be pairings from the show as well (deanoru & gertchase) but i didnt tag them bc theyre not the main pairing and i personally hate when people tag a pairing in a fic and when i read it theyre not mentioned that much.
> 
> also my crack ship mina x brigid is canon in this because gay rights. and theyre teenagers too bc i said so. 
> 
> anyways thats enough talking. meet tandy and tyrone. enjoy!

“You sure you have everything you need?”

Tandy tears her gaze away from the red bricked entrance of Saint Sebastian's Preparatory School to glance at her mom, only slightly surprised to find that her features are clouded in the trepidation she'd barely managed to hide from her face all morning.

Turning her body away from the luminous shadow of her new school, Tandy forces the sides of her lips to turn up into a reassuring smile.

“Yeah. I mean, I'm sure I had everything I needed before we left the house. And I was also sure when you asked me as we got into the car. And also again when we stopped at the red light by Palmer Street.”

Her smile becomes more genuine and teasing as Melissa side eyes her, playfully hitting her on her upper arm in exasperation.

“Quit it,” she says, pointing a finger at her with what she thinks is a stern look on her face. “I'm just trying to make sure you have everything you need. This school is tough, Tan, you’re only here on scholarship and I don't want you to fall behind on the first day because you left a book or something.”

“And all the same, it’s just junior year of a new high school, mom. I promise I'll be fine,” Tandy says, touched by the show of concern and nervousness from someone so normally sure of everything. It settles some of her own uneasiness, if only for a little while.

Her mother smiles a sad, emotional smile, reaching a hand up to run over Tandy's hair soothingly. “You're so strong. I'm still not positive of who you get that from,” she pauses, glancing outside the car at the other students entering the school building. “I know the past few years have been harder than they had any right to be for a 16 year old, but you're with me now. Always. From now on, things will be better.”

“Mom, chill,” Tandy sniffles, discreetly clearing her choked up throat - or what she hopes is discreetly anyway. “I can't walk into this school filled with rich kids with tear tracks under my eyes. It'll ruin my cred before I even really gain any.”

Melissa shakes her head. “They don't know what's about to hit them.”

Yeah, at this point Tandy feels like she’s reached her full soft and mushy quota for at least a month. She unbuckles her seatbelt and grabs her book bag from the back seat. “I can feel this approaching hugging territory… so, I’m going. See you at 2, mom.”

Her mother simply smiles knowingly at her, like she's just a book opened on display. “Learn something new, make some friends and have a good day, baby girl.”

“I will.”

Sobered suddenly at how real the moment feels, Tandy takes a deep breath before opening the car door and climbing out, subconsciously smoothing out the non existent wrinkles on her uniform skirt.

She doesn't exactly know what she'd expected when she imagined what would happen in this moment over the pass month, but what actually occurs wasn't something she'd thought to conjure up in her mental list of outcomes. 

Because, while everything is happening around her, nothing really… happens.

Behind her, her mother's car takes off, her only tether to her familiar world stretching farther and farther away. And other than a gust of wind billowing the folds of her skirt, no one even notices Tandy.

She'd thought that someone like her would stick out like a sore thumb the moment she came in contact with this new environment, but she'd been mistaken. 

The students - with their shiny silky hair and expensive brand bags and their uniforms: exactly the same as hers yet somehow managing to make hers feel like scraps of once disposed clothing lazily stitched together - they don't pay her a passing glance.

Here she was thinking they'd ridicule her existence the second they realized she wasn't one of them, but in reality, these rich kids don't even pay her the time of day.

She wonders why she's disappointed by that.

Tandy hikes her bag over her shoulder, chest and head held high as she makes her way into her new school, hoping to some almighty deity that she comes off as confident as she's going for.

The hallways of the private school are packed full of students otherwise occupied with the usual pre-commencement of a school day, some putting their things in their lockers, some exchanging exuberant welcome backs between one another, others using the last fews minutes before the bell chimes to get a last text out. 

They all look like they should be here.

And while she shouldn't by any degree, she's here too and she knows that beneath her hidden insecurities and cool composure, the hope she feels is the most she’s allowed herself to indulge in for years. 

She doesn't know why, but as stuck up and pretentious as the whole thing seems, she thinks this place will do her some good.

“Tandy Bowen?”

Spinning around at the sound of her name, Tandy comes face to face with a girl who looks to be about the same age as herself. There are 2 white ribbons tied in her short curly hair and Tandy thinks this girl's cheeks must hurt from how hard she's smiling.

She can't really tell if it's real or not, though.

“Yeah...” she answers, suspicious about how this girl that she's never met before knows her by her full name.

She moves a stack of papers that she'd been holding into one hand and sticks the other out, “Evita Fusilier. Usually someone from the Admissions Office would show new students around on their first day but this year the Cheer Squad decided to take up more responsibilities within the school system.”

She stops there, still smiling brightly at her with her hand still sticking out in greeting. Cautiously closing her hand around hers, Tandy prompts, “So… you're my tour guide?”

Evita laughs softly, pumping her hand once before dropping it. This time, she can tell that her smile is real.

“I guess you could call it that, yeah.” She holds out the stack of papers, “These are yours.”

“And these are?” Tandy asks as she takes them.

“Your welcome package, class schedule, stuff like that. I should also let you know that sometime today, most likely in your free period, you should go see the Dean.”

Tandy rolls her eyes, “That's exactly what I need. An hour in close quarters of monotone drilling from a figure of authority.” 

Evita laughs again, eyes shining like she's actually seeing something for the first time since their whole conversation had started and is clearly entertained by what she finds. “You're sassy.”

Tandy eyes her up and down. “You're preppy.”

“I am.” She smiles. “Come on. Let's get you acquainted with Saint Sebastian's Prep.”

 

***

 

“And this, right here is the science department. Most of the labs for the chemistry, physics and biology classes are down here.”

Evita stops at the top of the hallway to face her, somehow still maintaining all that energy she'd had when she met her almost an hour ago. Figures that she's a cheerleader. 

Tandy, on the other hand, whispers a silent thank god that they've finally stopped for more than a mere second, embarrassingly out of breath from the trek across the entire school. 

“Oh this is my place then,” she says, painfully aware of how breathy she sounds.

Evita’s eyebrows shoot up in interest. “You a science girl?”

She nods, “Sadly.”

Tandy can practically see the question poised on her lips, but the quiet buzz of a phone stops the cheerleader short. 

“Sorry,” she whispers, fishing her cellphone out of her skirt pocket and reading whatever's displayed on the screen. After a second, she sighs, shaking her head before looking back towards her, “Hey so this is about it in terms of me showing you around. I have to go now but if you need anything today or whenever, you can always come find me.”

A bit surprised at the abrupt ending, Tandy stumbles out, “Oh, uh… Yeah. Yeah, sure. Thanks for… the tour.”

The cheerleader’s smile is back, “Great. Have a good first day. I'll see you around.”

And then she turns back the way they'd just came and disappears, which of course is only when Tandy realizes that apart from the two of them a moment ago, there's no one else roaming the hallways.

She's glad for the moment of solitary.

Taking in a long breath, Tandy looks through the stacks of paper in her hands for her class schedule, relieved to find that the next class she has - which is technically her first class for the day and also happens to be in a couple of minutes - is actually physics. She wonders then if Evita had brought her here last on purpose.

And she decides that if only for that small action alone, she'll give the girl some props. 

Maybe all these preppy rich kids aren't so bad after all.

She takes off in search of the room for the class as stated on the paper, head still down and unaware of her surroundings as she studies her schedule for the rest of the week - which, she'll admit, is a pretty bad idea.

She doesn't see or feel the presence of another person until it's too late. 

Tandy smacks right into a hard chest, papers flying from her hands and teeth gnashing together in surprise.

She steps back just as quickly as they'd collided, but, for a moment, she's too discombobulated to gather her bearings right away.

It's only when the guy curses does she really look at the mess they'd made, taking in the stained pattern on his white uniform shirt along with the brown liquid dripping from his letterman's jacket. In his hand is a half empty cup of coffee, the plastic cover laying on the floor between them along with small puddles of the spilled beverage.

Tandy springs into action. “Oh my god, I'm  _ so _ sorry,” she reaches inside her bag for anything that might help and comes up with a soft face rag that she hurriedly attempts to try to use as she wipes at the stains on both his immaculately pressed white shirt and his varsity jacket, not noticing at first that she's only spreading it.

“I uh-- I think you're just making it worse.”

The boys voice stops her short, cheeks heating up as she finally looks him directly in the face. It looks like he's still deciding if he should be angry at her for not looking where she's going or amused at her determination just now to get rid of the coffee stains. 

When he looks down once more at her hand still lying on his chest, the realization that she’d practically been feeling him up has Tandy snatching her hand back so fast almost as if she'd been burnt. 

Taking a step back, she tucks a strand of hair behind her ear and repeats, “Sorry.”

He smiles a heart fluttering smile then shakes his head at her, looking to the half empty coffee cup in his hand and when a frown takes over the smile on his face, she realizes then that he's probably recalling that she's the culprit in this situation. “You need to watch where you're going.”

Which, okay… unfair.

Tandy let's out an unamused laugh. “This hallway is pretty wide,” she motions around them, “So if you just so happened to literally run into me, I'm 99% sure you weren't watching where you were going either.”

He huffs out a breath in disbelief, as if he was expecting her to take all the blame, “Still wouldn't have mattered if you'd just paid attention. Now my whole uniform is ruined. And you didn't even get splashed with a drop of coffee.”

He's whining, sounding for the most part like a petulant child, which disappoints her because a voice as smooth and rich as his isn't meant for such childish things. 

Tandy rolls her eyes, stooping to collect her papers still on the floor. “Whatever, I'm pretty sure getting a new one won't be a problem for you.”

She can feel the confusion rolling off in waves from him without even look up at him. “What's that supposed to mean?” she hears him ask.

She stands, smoothing out the papers and aligning them before smoothing out her skirt as well. Slowly, Tandy meets his gaze, “What that means, is that you rich kids are exactly what I thought you'd be like. There are bigger problems in the world than a stupid coffee stain.”

The bell finally chimes, and before she knows it, students are already flocking around them. She doesn't wait for him to answer or comment. Tandy heads to her class all the while cursing coffee incident guy for his existence. 

 

***

 

“We're very proud to have you this year, Ms. Bowen. Saint Sebastian's has some of the very best educators in this country and I'm 100% certain that with your brilliance and our guidance, the possibilities for greatness are limitless.”

Tandy fidgets in her seat across from Dean Williams, confused about why it seems like he's trying to sell her about the school when she's already here. She wants to say as much, but she figures that's not something he'd appreciate. 

So she just smiles and nods, a routine she'd quickly picked up over the last 10 minutes. 

“Now, as a student on scholarship, there are certain standards that must be met, both academically and non academically. I won't remind you of the details entailing your schoolwork as I'm sure you've been briefed about that more than once,” he pauses, laughing as if what he just said is actually funny in any way. Still, Tandy laughs along with him.

“Are there any after school activities that you normally took part in at your old school?”

She clears her throat, “I used to tutor the sciences along with math and I was also apart of the Engineering Club.”

Dean Williams smiles as if she'd just told him the secret to life, “Excellent! Our students are usually on top of their grades but we still allow exceptional students to tutor those that are having… a bit of trouble. You'll start tutoring today. Mavis at the front desk will write you a list of persons that'll need your assistance.”

Feeling overwhelmed at the speed at which he'd just declared that it's already a done deal, Tandy sputters, “Sir, actually I-"

“Great. We don't actively have an engineering club but I'm sure you'll find an extracurricular activity similar to that in no time. It was nice talking to you Ms. Bowen. Best of luck this school year, and remember, my door is always open - except outside of office hours.”

And -- yeah, she has apparently been dismissed. The Dean is already focused on the paperwork before him, almost as if she was never there to begin with.

Dazed and confused about what just happened, Tandy walks out of the Dean's office and stops by Mavis at the front desk like he’d told her to, because really, she doesn't think she has much of a choice. 

Mavis writes down the names and information of 3 kids - 1 a sophomore and the other 2 juniors - each scheduled at different times during the week. She doesn't recognize any of the names, but that doesn't come as much of a surprise.

Tandy finally heads to the cafeteria area, glad for a break as she's already mentally drained from just her first physics class and the AP math class that she took after. 

She's chagrined to admit that the person that had taken up most of her thoughts throughout the day had been that awful coffee incident guy.

After meeting Evita, she'd thought that not everyone here was as she'd been expecting, but one entitled sentence from that guy was all it took for her to realize that that is not the case.

She'll just have to try and ignore the images her brain keeps conjuring up of him fighting a smile as he'd looked at her hand clutching his chest.

When Tandy steps into the cafeteria, her self consciousness from earlier makes a come back as she realizes she's about to become a cliche. 

Joining the line and getting a tray of unsurprisingly fresh and healthy food is easy and quick enough, which ultimately results in Tandy's timely demise of suffering through the cafeteria seating dilemma. 

“Sassy new girl! Tandy! Hey!”

Evita's now familiar voice beckons her over to a table filled with kids that… aren't cheerleaders. And… she seriously needs to stop stereotyping this girl.

“Hey,” she greets her, running her eyes over the group of kids that seem harmless enough. Their smiles are genuine and warm and it sets her at ease almost immediately. 

“Thought I'd invite you over. Guys, this is the new girl I was telling you about - Tandy. Tandy these are my friends,” Evita beams.

“Hi, I'm Karolina!” the bubbly blonde beside Evita says, and Tandy never thought she'd see the day that someone literally exuberates sunshine like she does. Her arm, however, is around the shoulder of a girl that is literally her polar opposite. The black eyeliner wearing goth doesn't take her eyes off Karolina for more than a minute. “And this is my girlfriend, Nico.”

Nico dips her head in greeting and it's the most zen thing that’s ever been done, she's sure of it. Tandy likes her already.

Beside them, a curly haired girl smiles kindly at her. “I'm Molly, and that's my big sister, Gert,” she points to the purple haired girl sitting next to her with the fiercest brown eyes Tandy's ever seen. “And that's Chase.”

The obnoxiously good looking guy lifts his hand to wave at her, but not before discreetly stealing a glance at Gert.

Hmm.

“I'm Alex, and this is Mina.” Both of them smile at her, urging her to sit in one of the 3 seats still empty at the table. She follows their command.

“Ty and Brigid usually hang with us too but they're both busy doing… I'm not sure, I stopped listening half way through. You'll just have to meet them some other time,” Gert says, squashing any thoughts of this whole thing feeling awkward before they'd even entered her mind.

She ignores the thrill that she feels at the implication that there'll be other times.

Mina shakes her head, “Brigid’s helping out Nurse Rhonda. I don't know about Ty, though.”

“Again? The school year literally just started. How on earth could Nurse Rhonda need Brigid's help already?” Alex asks while stuffing a fry between his lips.

“Because of people like you that eat with their mouths full and end up with food going down their airways,” Nico deadpans, and has she mentioned that she likes this girl?

Alex simply stuffs more fries into his mouth, pointedly doing it to irritate Nico.

Evita sighs, “Well, at least you know where your girlfriend is, Mina.”

The atmosphere surrounding the group sobers then.

Karolina puts a comforting hand on Evita's arm, “Is he still pushing you away?”

“Yeah. I'm honestly still so lost as to why. And I can't help but thinking that it's my fault.”

Chase pipes in, “Hey, no, it has nothing to do with you, trust me. Ty’s just being Ty. You know how he gets around this time of year. He'll come around.”

Gert squints her eyes at him, “And how do you know this, Oh Wise One?”

He scoffs, “He's my friend. He tells me things. Plus, I guess I just get him.”

“You mean like how you get Spanish?” Alex teases.

“Oh, shut it, Wilder.”

“So Tandy…” Evita prompts, her veiled attempt at changing the subject not unnoticed by anyone at this table, Tandy thinks. “How have things been since I left you by your lonesome this morning?”

With everyone's attention on her once more, Tandy swallows the bite of her salad she’d been chewing. “Okay, except for that complete jackass that couldn't look where he was going and ran straight into me - which resulted in coffee being spilt all over him.”

There's a mixture of laughter and wincing that emerges from the group before her. “What'd you say to him?” Nico asks.

“Well first I said I was sorry, because you know, I wasn't really looking where I was going either but then he still blamed me and couldn't find fault in his own unawareness and then he exhibited major pretentious asshole energy.”

“Whoa,” Alex says.

“Damn,” Chase follows.

“I like you.” Gert asserts. 

Tandy smiles a genuine smile. It might be her first real one since her mom drove off this morning, she thinks. 

“You guys aren't so bad yourselves. Much less stuck up than I thought you'd be.” As soon as the words leave her mouth, she regrets them. Leave it to her to insult a group of people just trying to be nice and friendly to her.

But to her surprise, they all just… laugh.

“Oh, no, trust me. We definitely are stuck up.” Karolina says, sunshiny smile on her face.

Confused, Tandy looks around at all of them, lost as to how they seem to be okay with calling themselves that. “And you guys are just… cool with being dubbed as stuck up?”

“We go to a private preparatory school with tuition fees higher than the cost some new cars, our parents are so rich, most of us have known each other since childhood because the rich only ever socialize among themselves. Some of us - well, most of us might be minorities, but we've never had to worry about money. We're not awful people but… we  _ are _ privileged,” Nico finishes with a shrug. The rest of them nod along in agreement. 

But Tandy's still not 100% clear about what it is they're trying to say, “So being rich gives you an excuse to be awful to others less fortunate than you?” It's no surprise that her mind immediately goes to coffee incident guy.

Gert shakes her head, “Oh, we never said that. Most of us recognize that we're better off than a lot of people, so being judged as stuck up and pretentious aren't things we get too upset about. But I'd like to think that we're still decent people underneath all this privilege.”

The attempt at humor doesn't go unnoticed by her and Tandy decides that although she'll never fully understand, she also does get what they mean to some extent. The fact that they've allowed someone new into their little circle, talking to her and around her as if nothing has changed shows that they are in fact as genuine as she'd thought when she'd studied them earlier. 

“Guess I just got the worse end with that asshole from the hallway,” Tandy says, pointedly letting a smile onto her lips so they know she's joking and that she's cool with them.

“We never said  _ everyone _ at the school was decent,” Mina adds, which causes everyone, including her, to laugh. A moment after when she looks around at them, all engaging now in different conversations among each other, she realizes that there’s also no judgement from them about the fact that she’s obviously way less privileged than they are. Tandy feels like she might've gained a friend in most, if not all of them.

Molly, the only one that hadn't really spoken since she joined them, clears her throat to gain everyone's attention. “So, I can't possibly be the only person that sees it.” She looks pointedly between Karolina and Tandy.

But like the others, the both of them just look at the girl in confusion. 

“Come on guys, they're like, clones of one another, except one's a tall rainbow of love and the other's a tiny ball of fire,” she motions between her and Karolina like it's the most obvious thing in the world.

Tandy looks over at the girl in question, eying her up and down in search of the similarities Molly says are there. Her supposed clone does the same.

“I don't see it-"

“I don't see it-”

Both her and Karolina giggle at having said the same thing at the same time.

Molly sputters, overwhelmed at her theory having gotten more evidence. 

The entire group starts laughing. 

Gert chuckles uncontrollably, “Oh my god, Molly you're right. They're fucking twins.”

 

***

 

After texting her mother not to pick her up at 2 like she'd planned because she'll be at school till 4 instead, Tandy heads off to the library where she was told she'd meet and tutor her first student for the week.

She'd been in a way better mood since lunch with Evita's friends - and well, she guesses they're her friends too now, if them explicitly stating so later on during the hour is anything to go by - but after two more classes and now that she's by herself, her mood has dipped some.

Not significantly, but the nervousness she always feels meeting a new student to tutor makes itself known in the pit of her stomach. 

She enters the library, noticing the other students occupying the space but not sparing them more than a passing glance. Tandy goes up to the old woman that she's guessing is the librarian. 

“Hi, so I'm new here. Could you please point me to the tutoring centre?”

The old lady smiles at her, “Upstairs dear. If I'm not mistaken, someone's already up there waiting.”

She returns the smile, “Oh okay. Thank you.”

The woman nods, turning back to whatever she was doing. 

Tandy follows the direction she'd been given, carefully taking the stairs up to the only other floor. When she arrives, she notices a door with a plaque reading ‘Tutoring Centre’ and she blows out a tiny breath of relief.

She doesn't wait another moment before pushing the door open, but she stops short almost immediately when she notices the newly familiar back of who she assumes is her tutoring student.

“Oh, you've got to be kidding me,” she can't help but think out loud.

The guy spins around and yup, she was right, it's the asshole from the hallway. The confusion in his eyes that had probably been there from her outburst vanishes as he realizes who she is.

“Crazy white girl?”

 

**Author's Note:**

> and so they meet... again?
> 
> what'd you think?
> 
> have questions? drop a comment or find me on tumblr at cloakedindaggers or on twitter at felicitysdagger


End file.
